I Cling to Memories While Falling
by Agentmanatee
Summary: Neriah and Kend were always meant to be together. But with all the trials and tribulations in Azeroth, will they be able to get a happy ending? Based off of RP in WoW.
1. A Normal Day In Silvermoon

**I Cling to Memories While Falling**

Neriah Amberdawn sprinted up the path to Silvermoon City, her wavy platinum blonde hair bouncing on her shoulders as she ran. She had just begun her formal training as a priestess, and already she was making a bad impression by being late. _It's not my fault! _she thought as she crossed the bridge into the city, _That mage needed a quick healing, I couldn't just leave him there in the Ruins alone! _She paused before entering through the gates of the city, brushing a few errant hairs behind her ears as she tried to make herself look less frazzled. She took a deep, steadying breath before striding into the Walk of Elders, attempting to avoid the commotion of the city. She noticed that a small group had gathered in front of the inn, and as she passed by she glanced over and stopped dead in her tracks. An elf lay in the street, a pool of blood surrounding him. Before she could fully take in the scene, someone reached out and grabbed her, asking frantically, "You're a priestess right? You can heal him can't you?"

She nodded slowly, attempting to appear confident. "Yes, I am a Priestess of the Light. I can help you. Now, tell me exactly what happened."

The younger female motioned to his right arm, which Neriah finally noticed was hacked off at the wrist. "A troll ran in here and attacked us. Ken tried to protect our friend by blocking the blow, and the troll cut off his hand and ran with it. We have someone chasing him down to get it back, but I'm afraid he's going to die before they retrieve it. Please help? Our friend tried to heal him, and well…" She pointed to a young female paladin, passed out from the exertion. Neriah nodded, carefully rolling up her sleeves and going to the male's side. He was barely conscious, but still alive.

"I'll assume you are Ken," she said as she placed her hands over the wound, closing her eyes. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of you." She prayed silently, calling on the Light to aid her._ Light, use my body as a vessel to heal this wounded man. Allow me to use your soothing warmth to ease his pain and stop the blood flow. _A warm glow began to emit from her hands, entering the wound and sealing it slowly. "Would someone get him some water? We need to start replacing his fluids," Neriah said as she continued to heal the gaping wound, careful not to overexert herself. Minutes passed, and the bleeding finally stopped, although the wound was slightly open so the hand could be reattached. Another paladin, a male this time, handed her a waterskin, and she put it to Ken's lips, forcing him to drink some. She wrapped the stump with some spare cloth she carried on her, making sure that it stayed clean. As he regained his strength, Neri sat back on her heels and wiped the bloody hands on her robes, not really caring that it would most likely permanently stain the white. Ken smiled at her warmly, and she was struck by how handsome he was, despite the scars across his face and neck, and the eyepatch that denoted a missing eye beneath.

"Thank you, kind Priestess," he said, sitting up and drinking from the waterskin. "Perhaps you would be kind enough to tell this poor wounded paladin your name?"

She nodded at him, smiling back. "I am Neriah Amberdawn. It is a pleasure to meet you, although I wish it were under better circumstances."

He chuckled, shrugging slightly. "Its only a hand. I suppose I'll just have to learn how to wield a sword with my other one! I'm Kendarious Sal'Avayn, but everyone calls me Ken, obviously." He pointed to the slumped over female. "That's Lirune, she's not very adept at healing if you couldn't tell. Rin, would you go revive her? I think Miss Neriah needs a break." The elf that had handed her the waterskin nodded, and went to wake Lirune. "That's Rinnard. He's a Captain of our order. And that," he pointed at the female elf who had grabbed Neri, "Is Alynithea. She is Rinnard's lover." He waggled his eyebrows mockingly at Aly, and she rolled her eyes back at him.

Neriah smiled, looking over the group of people. "Quite a group you've got, Ken. And I'm happy to see you must be feeling alright. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be getting back to the Temple…"

Ken nodded, standing slowly. "Before you go, will you check on Lirune?"

Neriah sighed, nodding in agreement. She glanced over, noticing that the young paladin was awake and recovering. "It looks like all she needed was a bit of water."

Ken chuckled, striding over to check on the girl. "Ah, Lirune, glad you're alright. You need to be more careful, my life isn't as important as your own!" He winked at her, and Lirune blushed a deep red, stuttering out a weak response. Ken laughed, before wavering slightly on his feet, closing his eyes and putting his hand to his forehead. Neriah appeared instantly by his side, steadying him with her hands, her body quite small and petite beside his larger, more muscular one. She sighed slightly as she held onto him as his dizzy spell passed. "You're in no state to be walking around. Please, come back to the Temple with me so I can keep an eye on you?"

Ken nodded slowly, wrapping his non-injured arm around her shoulder for support. "Fine, but you have to agree to join our Order. We're look for smart young priestesses to join us. We are the Ardent Light," he said, pointing the the blue and gold tabards they were all wearing. "We serve to help people through the Light in whatever way we can, be it healing, protection, retribution…"

Neriah looked down at her feet, a small blush creeping into her cheeks. "I would be honored to join you, but I've only just begun my training, I'm not sure if I'm fit." Ken waved her off with his stump, pausing a moment to stare at it before shaking his head to clear his mind.

"Nonsense!" he exclaimed. "You've already demonstrated your worthy healing abilities. And we'll always help you with your training, and you can still visit the Temple to train with them as well."

Neriah looked to the others in the group, the three of them nodding their approval of the idea. "Well, sure. It would be my honor." The four paladins beamed at her, Ken squeezing her shoulder tightly. "But I really must be going… I'm already dreadfully late and I need to at least go explain what happened. If you happen to find his hand, come bring it to the Temple so I can reattach it?"

Aly and Rinnard nodded, while Lirune looked off, seemingly jealous of the physical closeness between Neri and Ken. Neriah smiled at the young girl. "Lirune, you did a good job. He would have died if it hadn't been for your quick thinking." Lirune blushed, smiling at Neri quickly before looking away again. Neri grinned before tugging Ken off. "Come on, lets get you to the Temple so you can sit back down."

They walked off, waving to the group as they made their way to the Court of the Sun.


	2. The Gardens

Later that day, after Ken had regained most of his strength, the two sat out in a garden close to the gates of Silvermoon. Ken sprawled out on the bench to Neri's right, his arms resting along the back of it, his legs spread widely. Neriah looked over at him and started chuckling slightly.

"So, you and Lirune, huh?" She asked, unable to keep the question or laughter quiet any longer.

He looked at her with a perplexed look, an eyebrow arching perfectly. "Why do you say that?"

She laughed harder, looking at him incredulously. "Really? You can't see how much she likes you? I thought her face was going to melt off from how much she was blushing at you."

Ken smirked at her, shrugging slightly. "I just like to tease her. I didn't really think she had a crush on me or anything, just figured that's how she was."

Neri continued giggling, shaking her head slightly at him. "Men! So oblivious to everything!"

Ken looked over at her, that sly smirk still on his lips. "And what about you, Miss Amberdawn? Any love interests in your life? A special man, or woman perhaps? Any illegitimate children?"

Neriah shook her head, the laughter subsiding into a long sigh. "No, no men want me. I'm a priestess, I took a vow of chastity long ago. I will not be with a man until I am married, and you can obviously figure out how that goes over with the men of this City. As for children, I am barren. I cannot carry a child anymore."

He frowned slightly, scooting closer to put his arm around her, giving her a small hug. "I'm sorry to hear that. What happened?"

She sighed again, leaning against him. She looked up and met his eye. "Its a rather long, gruesome story. Are you sure you want to hear it?" He nodded, and she took a deep breath, ready to launch into it. "My mother was a priestess in our town. She was often gone for days and weeks at a time, traveling around to smaller towns and camps to heal the injured, deliver children, give the dying their last rites… the usual duties. My father was a local guard, and he was left in charge of watching my older brother and I. Everything was fine, until I started growing older and maturing. My father took notice of the beauty blooming under his nose. My brother noticed the way my father was looking at me, and confronted him about it. My father banished my brother, sending him away from the village and concocting some story about dishonoring the family and that he should be shot on sight if he attempted to return. With my brother out of the way, and my mother always gone… I was easy prey."

She glanced up at him, wondering if she should go on. He squeezed her shoulder lightly and nodded. She took another steadying breath before continuing. "It went on for months and months, whenever my mother was gone for long journeys. It continued until one day, I began getting sick, I was tired, I started putting on weight… my father had gotten me pregnant with an abomination, something that never should have come into being. When he realized what he had done, he strapped me to a table, took out a large knife, and cut his monstrosity from my belly. When he was done, he left me there on the table, not bothering to close my wounds, and he ran, leaving the village to never be seen again. I laid there for hours on that table, begging for death, but the Light kept me alive. Luckily my mother came home early, sensing something was amiss, and came across me almost dead, a large aura of Light surrounding my body and keeping me alive. She healed me the best she could, but the damage to my womb was too great. We left the village that day, and traveled together to different villages across Lordaeron. She taught me everything she knew."

She closed her eyes for a moment, afraid to look at him. When she finally did, she saw that his jaw was clenched tightly, anger in his eye. She was about to ask him if he was alright when he suddenly stood up, grabbing his spear with his good hand and skulking over to the pathway. He stood there momentarily, his body rigid, before he stabbed the spear deeply into the ground, letting out a loud yell of pain, anger, frustration, sadness, and other emotions rolled into one. Neri jumped off the bench and ran over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He whirled around, a tear slowly trickling down his face.

"Its not fair! We serve the Light, yet we are forced to endure so much pain and suffering, so much loss. First my eye, now my hand… and you, your ability to have children… what was it all for? Is the Light just testing us, seeing how far it can push us before we break? Because honestly, I don't think I can take much more," he said, gripping her arm tightly as he looked in her eyes. She put both of her hands on either side of his face, meeting his gaze.

"Yes, the Light is testing us. The path of a paladin and a priestess is a long and hard, with many trials. But that is the nature of the Light. It couldn't make things easy for us; instead we have to push through and fight and strengthen our faith. Would you rather have weak, untested paladins fighting the scourge?"

He sighed and shook his head slowly. "No, I suppose you are right. Our faith must be tested in order to strengthen it." He reached up and caressed one of her hands on his face, slowly smiling at her. "Close your eyes."

She raised a long sculpted eyebrow. "What? Why?"

"Just do it! Close your eyes and think of the Light, of its healing powers, of its warmth and love," he replied, moving his hand to brush her hair out of her face. "Just close your eyes and open yourself to the Light. Can you do that for me?"

She nodded, slowly closing her eyes and letting out a long slow breath. After a few moments, her skin began to glow very slightly as the Light surrounded her. He smiled and did the same thing, taking a steadying breath and letting the Light fill him completely before he moved his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her lips to his gently. She jumped, losing her concentration for a moment until she felt his hand stroking her hair soothingly, comforting her as the Light surrounded the two of them, giving them both an ethereal glow. She tentatively deepened the kiss, the glow surrounding them giving her courage as it brightened substantially. He broke the kiss for half a second to whisper, "Open yourself to me, let me heal you," before picking her up with his good arm and kissing her with more passion than either of them thought possible.

An hour later (or had it only been a minute? Who could tell with a kiss like that), they sat laughing on the bench like school children, giggling over the smallest things. After every session of laughing, they smiled and kissed again. She sighed happily and kissed his nose, putting a hand on her lower abdomen.

"So am I really fixed?" She asked, looking at him with wonder and amazement. "Or is it like your hand? There but… not really there."

He shrugged, holding up the newly formed hand made entirely of the Light, the 'skin' giving off a small glow as he flexed his fingers. "I don't know. I mean, I figure if we could build this hand together, we could mend all the internal wounds you suffered without having to make anything new. But I suppose there's only one way to truly find out."

She grinned, smacking his arm lightly. "Well then, I suppose I won't be finding out for a long time. Unless of course you were planning to sweep me off my feet and elope this very minute."

He chuckled, standing up and scooping her into his arms. "Where shall we go, then? Will they perform the ceremony right here?" He smiled, kissing her forehead and spinning around with her in his arms. "Just kidding, my dear. I can wait as long as I must in order to do this right. You deserve a proper courtship, proposal, engagement, wedding, and wedding night."

She beamed at him, giving him a long, sweet kiss. "Why, you're a romantic too? I guess I hit the jackpot. Now put me down, we should go find your friends and see if they've recovered the hand yet, for as lovely as this new one is, nothing beats real flesh and blood."

He nodded and set her down gently. He gave her one more quick kiss before they walked out of the gardens and back into the noise of the city. "One or two of them should be in the Bazaar this time of day to buy supplies. We'll head there first to see if they've heard any news." She nodded, and off they walked, hand in glowing hand. 


	3. The Bizarre Bazaar

The Bazaar was crowded and noisy, people pushing others and yelling to speak over the din. Neriah held tightly onto Ken's hand to ensure they weren't separated in the crowd, the glowing hand now covered by a glove he had procured somehow. He squeezed her hand reassuringly as he scanned the crowd, finally noticing a few people wearing the colors of his Order near the bank. He pulled Neri with him towards his friends, smiling broadly.

"Oi! You meatheads, did you forget about me?" He shouted, slapping one of them on the back. Neri moved forward and recognized him as Rinnard, one of the men from earlier. However, there were others she had not met before, and she lowered her head and gave them a small curtsey as their eyes drifted to her and her blood stained robes. Ken smiled, putting his arm around her. "Alarius and Osa'drarim, this is Neriah. She's the priestess who saved me, and she was hoping to join the Order."

The man identified as Alarius smiled at her, walking closer and offering his hand. "You saved one of ours, we are indebted to you. Being as such, because of what you did we would be honored to have you join the Ardents. I can go and pick you up a tabard, we have a few extras lying around. That way you can proudly wear our colors, and cover up those stains on your robes."

Neriah blushed and nodded as she shook his hand gently. She smoothed down her robes, embarrassed. "I did not have a chance to change out of these after I healed him, I apologize for my appearance. A tabard would be lovely, perhaps it will take people's eyes off of me."

Ken grinned and leaned down to whisper lightly in her ear, "It is not the robes that they are staring at, it is your beauty." Neriah's blush deepened as she giggled slightly, nudging him.

"I'll go get that tabard right now, I shall be back momentarily," Alarius said, smiling at them before marching off to the tabard supplier, and Rinnard went back to purchasing at the nearest vendor. After he left, a scantily clad woman with white hair approached the group, slinking along in what would have been a seductive walk. A felhound followed closely at her heels, its long feelers turning this way and that in response to magic energies. Ken scowled at her, narrowing his eye.

"What do you want, Rihanni?" he growled lowly, pulling Neri closer to him. The other man identified as Osa'drarim smiled, bowing his head towards the warlock. The woman smirked, running her fingers across the back of Osa's neck as she reached them.

"Oh, I just noticed that Osa here looked tense, and I thought I might offer my services," Rihanni said with a sultry smile.

Neriah eyed the woman warily, taking a step closer to Kend as the woman's felhound approached her. The warlock chuckled as she peered at Neri, her gaze raking over her form before settling on the blood stains on the white robes.

"Don't worry, doll, I've got him under very good control," the warlock purred, her fel tinged eyes twinkling with mirth. "He just smells that blood on you, as well as your magical energies."

Neri shrank back against Ken more, extremely distrusting of Rihanni. Ken pulled her into his arms protectively. "Get out of here, whore," he hissed between his teeth. Rihanni just grinned at him, but Osa glared crossly at Ken.

"Whore? You dare call her that?" Osa spat, looking over at Ken and Neri with a sneer. "Where's your loving girlfriend, Ken? Where's Liranna?"

Neriah blinked, pulling out of Ken's arms so she could look at him. Ken narrowed his eye at Osa as Rihanni cackled merrily. "She's not my girlfriend," he growled, taking a menacing step towards Osa. They stood there glaring at each other as Alarius chose that moment to return with a tabard. Rinnard has sensed something amiss and ventured over from the vendor he had gone to. Both Ken and Osa stood down at the sight of their leader, giving him a respectful salute.

Alarius presented Neri with a fresh, folded tabard, the blue and gold bright and crisp. "We will have a formal ceremony tomorrow to initiate you, but as of this moment you are a member of the Ardent Light," he said, handing the tabard to her. She looked at the people around her, her eyes landing on Ken as she took the tabard from Alarius.

"Thank you, sir," she said, running her fingers across the golden embroidery. "Would it be alright if I changed into something else? I would hate to dirty this beautiful tabard with old blood."

Alarius nodded with a small smile. "Of course. Kendarious, escort her to the guild hall at once."

Kend stepped forward, but Neri held out a hand, stopping him. "I would rather return to my own home, if that is alright. I can make it there by myself."

Ken protested, but Alarius cut him off. "That's perfectly fine, Priestess. If you should need to get in touch with us…" He looked around before very discreetly placing something small into her hand. She nodded, pocketing the stone.

"Thank you sir. Be sure to contact me if they find his hand?" The four men nodded simultaneously. She smiled and turned to leave, trying to map out a path through the crowded streets.

"Neri…" Ken called out, raising the covered hand of Light out towards her, but she shook her head and took a few steps forward, allowing the crowd to quickly swallow her. He sighed, his hand dropping to his side. Alarius raised his eyebrows, giving Kend a judging look.

"Kendarious, please tell me you haven't already made a move on our newest member?" he asked, rubbing his forehead in annoyance.

Rihanni laughed as Osa grinned smugly at the look on Kend's face. Rinnard just shook his head with a chuckle. Kend simply shrugged, still staring at where Neriah had vanished into the crowd. Alarius sighed. "By the Light, Ken, if we lose another Priestess because of your inability to keep your parts to yourself…" he tossed his hands up in annoyance. "Just try to keep it in your pants this time, yeah? She seems like a good person, I would hate to see you ruin her."

Ken nodded slowly. "Yes, sir. I won't touch or think of her like that again, you have my word. Be sure not to send for her when they bring my hand back to the city." He saluted the men, glaring at Osa again for a second before leaving for the guild hall, his head hanging in defeat.


End file.
